Lomborg's op-ed: No, You Can't

Twenty nations including Japan, Italy and Australia may be releasing more greenhouse-gas pollution than they agreed to under the Kyoto treaty to curb global warming. They're failing to rein in carbon-dioxide output enough to meet their pledges signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, according to reports by individual countries. As a penalty for missing their goals under the treaty, the nations are required to buy permits for every excess ton of the heat-trapping gas released through 2012.

2011-08-12 Bjørn Lomborg COPENHAGEN – Amid a growing wave of concern about climate change, many countries – including Brazil, Australia, the United States, and the members of the European Union – passed laws in the 2000’s outlawing or severely restricting access to incandescent light bulbs. The intention was understandable: if everyone in the world exchanged most light bulbs for energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), we could save 3.5% of all electricity, or 1% of our CO2 emissions. (...) 

Copenhagen Consensus Centre President Bjorn Lomborg says there are constantly climate catastrophes and it’s very easy to claim them as global warming.

“Global warming is real and it’s very likely that it does have an impact, but what you need to recognise is that because we are richer and more resilient we’ve dramatically drove down the number of people that die from climate-related disasters,” Mr Lomborg told Sky News Australia.